Cool Summer Free Article: Line AC Switch Controlled by Bluetooth Low Energy

This article describes the electronics, the BL600 program and the Android program; the last being an Android smartphone application with which your mains switch circuit may be controlled wirelessly. You may notice an unusual detail for these pages — the transformerless power supply.

This is a submission from Rutronik about their distribution agreement with the Chinese manufacturer of Bluetooth technologies Shenzhen Minew Technologies Co. Ltd. Founded in 2007, Minew counts Google, Here, Huawei, and Alibaba among its IoT customers from over 100 countries. The agreement encompasses all of Minew’s products.

Over the past months, the word blockchain has become an important buzzword that helps selling content. Mention blockchain and you have an audience. The fact that you are reading this proves my point.

Researchers in the United States have built a Bluetooth chip that is extremely small and very low power. It would operate for 11 years (!) from a single button cell. This is very convenient for all kinds of Internet of Things applications.

The administration of drugs in tablet or capsule form has continued pretty much the same for over a 100 years. This could, however, change quite quickly. Researchers from MIT, Draper, Brigham and Women’s Hospitals have developed an advanced 3D-printed capsule that can be controlled with the aid of Bluetooth technology. The capsule has been designed to be swallowed by a patient, after which it can send and receive information from outside the body. It can also be instructed to gradually release drugs over a longer period of time, as a reaction to symptoms.

What do you do when you have misplaced your USB cable? You borrow one without worrying about any unpleasant consequences of this simple loan. Beware! A microcontroller hidden in the connector of a USB cable communicates wirelessly with the outside world. Its Bluetooth interface allows anyone who controls it to install malware or spyware.

Here comes a luxury problem! One of the stronger factors discouraging potential users to opt for STMicroelectronics microcontrollers traditionally has been: there are too many to choose from. Some people find this fascinating and a sign of constant technological progress, while others are in constant uncertainly as to which ‘STM32’ device or board is the best for the application at hand. Frankly, with STMicro’s enormous product range it’s easy to lose count of the number of ARM and ARM-Cortex based processors.

Wireless Bluetooth speakers and sound systems have quickly become very popular devices. Although very practical, the sound quality may not always be as good as you would like it to be. So, then, why don’t you build your own? The electronics needed for it are available as cheap modules from China, the acoustics are up to you. And while you’re at it, why not add lighting effects too? Here is a great tutorial.

Dragino is a manufacturer of IoT hardware, specialised in Linux IoT/VOIP, Arduino Yùn add-on boards and LoRa modules and gateways. One of their latest products is the LSN50 long-range LoRa sensor node, designed for outdoor use.

A (hobby) electronics engineer needs at least two pieces of equipment to be able to work on an electronic circuit: a multimeter and a soldering iron. Most of us have these by now, but sometimes it is necessary to acquire a new one or obtain an additional multimeter that will come in handy when it is desirable to make multiple measurements simultaneously. The meter from Mastech that we describe here is a mid-range instrument with a price tag of just below 50 euros and also offers a few nice features!